Shortly after their 45-7 win over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Sunday, the New England Patriots* are reportedly set to be investigated by the NFL for the use of deflated footballs during the game.

TV's Bob reported the details, noting the Pats* are at risk of losing draft picks if they are found guilty of the accusations:

Breaking: A league source tells me the NFL is investigating the possibility the Patriots* deflated footballs Sunday night. More to come.— Bob Kravitz (@bkravitz) January 19, 2015

I'm told at one point the officials took a ball out of play and weighed it. Should hear more tomorrow on this subject.

Definitely not the reason they won last night, but certainly a reason for concern say in a game they won by 4 points.

_________________60 MIN53 MEN1 NATIONSTEELERS NATION

I am the MAN that created the MYTH that started the LEGEND

I'm a STEELERS fan, but more importantly, I'm a DIEHARD FAN OF JESUS CHRIST!But try tasting a God given dream covered in trust -Baron Batch

That said, if it is true, I hope more than ever they win the SB. Why? I can always say to a Cheat's fan that their team never won a SB without cheating in some form. Forever tarnished.

I have no doubt there were deflated balls on the field ---- Brady's.

Goodell is "Friends" with Kraft. Similar to the spygate stuff. Goodell made a mockery of everything, and I'm sure the NFL (under Goodell's watchful eye) will find a way to make this a non-issue like they did spygate.

_________________60 MIN53 MEN1 NATIONSTEELERS NATION

I am the MAN that created the MYTH that started the LEGEND

I'm a STEELERS fan, but more importantly, I'm a DIEHARD FAN OF JESUS CHRIST!But try tasting a God given dream covered in trust -Baron Batch

Ultimately it seems as if it will be difficult for the league to prove whether the balls being underinflated was due to external factors or the Patriots**’ intentional actions. Maybe a thorough video review will help answer questions.

_________________60 MIN53 MEN1 NATIONSTEELERS NATION

I am the MAN that created the MYTH that started the LEGEND

I'm a STEELERS fan, but more importantly, I'm a DIEHARD FAN OF JESUS CHRIST!But try tasting a God given dream covered in trust -Baron Batch

As I said in another post, if Belicheat wasn't coaching in the NFL, he'd be in prison ... he's a scam artist. I just hope some day people come forward with all the little scams Belicheat has used to "win" games. You'll see that he does just enough to win games that might otherwise have gone the other way. Basically, he's the mobster who puts cement in his boxer's gloves.

As Goodell has done in the past, as long as someone hasn't already made the evidence public, he'll destroy it and deny it. Unless someone has a video of the Patriots* ball attendant letting air out of the ball, no one can prove this was done with intent.

According to a National Football League letter about the investigation into the controversy that was shared with the Globe, the Patriots* were informed that the league’s initial findings indicated that the game balls did not meet specifications. The league inspected each of the Patriots*’ 12 game balls twice at halftime, using different pressure gauges, and found footballs that were not properly inflated.

According to ESPN, 11 of the 12 game balls were found to be underinflated by about 2 pounds each. The NFL specifications say they must be inflated to 12½ to 13½ pounds.

Not sure how true this is, but on Fox Sports Radio this morning, they mentioned that the 1 ball not deflated was the ball used by the Patriots* for kicking.

It will be interesting to see how much the league tries to throw dirt to cover this up. So Sean Payton has an assistant coach who put a bounty on an opposing QB and was suspended for a year. Belicheat stole 3 Super Bowls and was fined $500k (surprisingly, he was given a $500k bonus the next month by the Crafts) and the Patriots* lost 1 of their 2 first round draft picks. Roger will probably suspend the Patriots* ball boy for a game in 2017.

With the lid reportedly opened on “DeflateGate,” more teams are coming out of the woodwork.

Some players on the Baltimore Ravens believe the kicking balls they used during their AFC divisional-round game against the New England Patriots** were “slightly under-inflated,” league sources told CBSSports.com’s Jason La Canfora on Tuesday night. WTHR’s Bob Kravitz confirmed La Confora’s report.

La Canfora reports that the Ravens’ kickers and punters felt they weren’t getting their usual depth and distance on their kicks, and that the deflated balls could have been the reason why. Ravens kicker Justin Tucker made a 25-yarder in his only field goal attempt, while punter Sam Koch averaged 50.3 yards per punt (four punts for 201 yards).

Now the Ravens are squawking. If this were any other team in the NFL, I'd certainly believe that this may have been happening every game. We also know that Hairball is notorious for providing 1,000,000 excuses every time his team loses.

Question: So do the teams share the balls?

What I don't understand is why Belicheat would even venture to the dark side. Honestly, they have had some good teams this past decade, and Tom terrific is a great QB. They don't need to pull stuff like this in order to win. Another thing I don't understand is Kraft is suppose to be one of the most respected owners in the league, along with Rooney and Mara. Why would he tolerate this stuff?

Only if the Ravens allow it. Both teams have their own balls. If the Ravens' kickers weren't happy that the balls they were using were under-inflated, they should fire their ball boy. If they were using the balls supplied by the Patriots*, shame on them

What I don't understand is why Belicheat would even venture to the dark side. Honestly, they have had some good teams this past decade, and Tom terrific is a great QB. They don't need to pull stuff like this in order to win.

Sure they do ... who says they are that much better than everyone else? With the way the NFL is, games are closer and you can lose to just about any team. But for some reason, that doesn't apply to the Patriots*. Now we know what many of us suspected ... they're still cheating. I've heard people say that under-inflated footballs didn't result in the beating the Colts took. I say it could have. Brady didn't seem to have issues in the poor weather that Luck had .... maybe because he had a better grip on the football. And if Brady is throwing just as poorly as Luck did, would they have been able to run the ball like they did?

Tom Brady has only shown me he's good when his offensive coordinator knows the other teams signals and can call plays to score. And he's only good when he uses under-inflated footballs. The Patriots* don't have outstanding players ... they just have outstanding advantages that no one else in the league has.

Another thing I don't understand is Kraft is suppose to be one of the most respected owners in the league, along with Rooney and Mara. Why would he tolerate this stuff?

Kraft is a dirtbag, just like Belicheat. When the league fined Belicheat $500k for stealing 3 Super Bowls, Kraft gave Belicheat a $500k bonus. Basically, he paid the fine and acknowledged to the sports world that he'll prevent his cheating coach from being punished.

You can hand me a tinfoil hat because I'm thinking the NFL has known about this for a while. There's no way a linebacker can pick a football and realize it's under-inflated and yet the refs touched those same footballs several times a game and didn't notice anything. This has been going on for a while. My guess is Belicheat discovered the refs really weren't checking the balls before the game and slowly started to under-inflate their footballs. There's no way a ball boy is taking a needle and letting the air out of the balls on the sideline ... not in today's world where every fan is recording these guys from their cell phones.

LOL, I see the issue ... because the link has the word Patriots* and we include the little * to signify the cheating ways of that organization, there's another character included in the link that shouldn't be. Copy and paste the link in your browser and make sure to delete the "*" after the Patriots*.

Here's an article from the NY Post with views of Brady by former players. I'll include a section that quotes Troy Aikman:

Quote :

After a season filled with scandals — including Goodell’s indefensible decision to initially suspend Ray Rice two games in the former Ravens running back’s domestic violence case — Aikman thinks enormous pressure is on Goodell, especially due to his friendship with Patriots** owner Robert Kraft.

“There’s a lot of coaches and a lot of people that look upon the Patriots** as a team that’s been favored in some of the things that have happened — I thought the punishment he got for Spygate was a slap on the wrist, was next to nothing — so we’ll see,” Aikman said.

This would be funny if we made it up. It's even funnier because we didn't.

Quote :

"When I pick those balls out, at that point to me they are perfect. I don't want anyone touching the balls after that, I don't want anyone rubbing them, putting any air in them, taking any air out. To me those balls are perfect and that's what I expect when I show up on the field."

"When I pick those balls out, at that point to me they are perfect. I don't want anyone touching the balls after that, I don't want anyone rubbing them, putting any air in them, taking any air out. To me those balls are perfect and that's what I expect when I show up on the field."

... and when Brady finished speaking about his center, Bryan Stork, he turned to the topic of deflated footballs:

Patriots* Always Keep a Tight Grip on the BallSince 2010, New England Has the Lowest Fumble Rate in the NFL

One of the many questions surrounding “Deflategate”—the controversy that has engulfed the New England Patriots*—concerns what advantage an NFL team would gain from using a deflated football. Numerous players have said a softer ball is easier to grip, and a ball that’s easier to grip is harder to drop

New England coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady both denied ever purposely using footballs that were inflated below the NFL minimum. But on the basis of the allegations, the Count looked at the fumble rate of the Patriots* compared with the rest of the league.

New England has had an uncanny ability to hold on to the football for quite some time. According to data compiled by Warren Sharp of Sharp Football Analysis, the Patriots* fumble far less than any other team that plays outdoors, where the elements can make the football harder to handle. Beginning in the 2010 season, Patriots* players have fumbled (whether lost or recovered) once every 73 touches from scrimmage, which is 52% better than the league average. The next best team is the Ravens, who have fumbled once every 55 touches.

Additionally, according to Stats, LLC, the six players who have played extensively for the Patriots* and other teams in this span all fumbled far less frequently wearing the New England uniform. Including recovered fumbles, Danny Amendola, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Danny Woodhead, Wes Welker, Brandon LaFell and LeGarrette Blount have lost the ball eight times in 1,482 touches for the Patriots* since 2010, or once every 185.3 times. For their other teams, they fumbled 22 times in 1,701 touches (once every 77.3).